Breaking Bad fans SAVE YOUR ACCOLADES! Watching in Ireland (TG4). I would, though, add to the accolades: it is a dread marvel. From series 1 episode 1 I thought this 'TV' exceptional. Cranston and Paul particularly wonderful in their character creations. However, justly, vying for the highest honours as it is, I would ask fans to also look at 'Bleak House', BBC production of the Charles **** novel and ask is this not, rather, truly the 'best of all time'. The Gilligan/Anderson overlap is bonus for observers of Kevin Bacon removes type considerations.

BH is my second-favorite **** novel, so I put off watching this miniseries for 5 years, lest it disappoint. I needn't have hesitated. No the adaptation is not completely faithful, but it captures the essentials: the range of characters (good, bad, and purely eccentric), the dynamic storytelling, the social critique (here focused on the legal AND class systems). And it does more. It's a fair criticism of **** that his characters, for all their quirky vitality, are a little one-dimensional. But great actors can enrich such characters, and this series has so many that I almost hate to single anyone out. Much has been made of Gillian Anderson, and she is indeed excellent, but, for me, the standout has to be Anna Maxwell Martin as the young orphan at the center of events. She could easily have been too good to be true; instead, she is admirably kind but also confused, wise, wry, and naive--in other words, profoundly human. But no one works in a vacuum, and it's obvious that the casting, script, and direction have all contributed to her performance, as have the other actors. The scene between Anderson and Martin on the Ghost Walk is a perfect example of two achieving more together than one could do alone.